Wednesday and talking 'bout "The Window"

Geez, Monday had Table Plan, last night I posted a Pagan Blog Project Related Post, and now it's Wednesday and I have yet another blog post coming up.  Damn, blog posts are just coming day and night.

Maybe one day I to shall become the Governor of California!

Yesterday my DM told a few of us in the D&D group about this role-playing setting called The Window.  It is basically a rules-lite setting that really focuses on the "story trumps rules" idea that sometimes comes into play with table-top role-playing games like D&D and GURPS.  I am a big storyline guy, it's what got me into RPGs in the first place (started when my one cousin introduced me to Zelda).  As such, this idea intrigues me deeply.

The Window is a transparent portal into the imagination, a roleplaying system designed with the simple belief that roleplaying is about story and character and not about dice and dick waving. 

With that one quote, the creator of The Window, Scott Lininger, makes known his philosophy on table-top RPGs, and hold back no punches about it.  Destiny actually had to point that quote out to me, because of just how often dick waving comes up in conversation.  I actually had to look up the term on Urban Dictionary, and I never go on Urban Dictionary, except of course to look up the Cinema Snob's definition for "the squeegee."  But I digress.  Scott Lininger's system focuses a lot on the storytelling and role-playing aspect that sometimes gets left out of RPG sessions.  The other quickly noticeable thing about The Window is how, much like GURPS, the rules can be applied to any sort of setting in mind.  Historical, Modern Day, High Fantasy (LotR, etc.), Low Fantasy (Thieves World, etc.), Lovecraftian Horror, Sci-Fi (Star Trek, etc.), Science Fantasy (Doctor Who, etc.), Cyberpunk, Zombie Apocalypse, you name it!  This, I think adds a certain universal appeal to the system.  It's also free, which is great for a cheapskate like me XD.

The main system has five traits, which are your main stats: Strength, Agility, Health, Knowledge, and Perception.  Optional traits include: Luck, Sanity, Magic, Armor, and Wealth (though, I prefer my Armor and Wealth not as traits, but as separate things).  You also have skills you apply to your character.  For example, if I were a Window character my skills would be like Above Average Driving, Above Average First-Aid, Poor Cooking, etc.

Mademoiselle, your soup is ready.......
(SOURCE)

I use the terms Above Average and Poor to describe how the skills system works, Competency Rungs.  Ranging from d4, which is like nigh superhuman, to d30, which is like me attempting to cook any sort of food unless it involves a microwave (or soup and buffalo wings, Destiny is trying to teach me to cook little by little).  Some people criticise that the jump from Poor and Below Average to Average are so huge, and the next few rungs are only jumps of 2 (d12 to d10 to d8, etc.).  My only criticism of the traits and skills is that, without some sort of restriction, what keeps one from doing what Eric Cartman did in the South park episode Good Times With Weapons?

You expecting more?  Well, there really isn't more.  Most skill and trait checks are done with a respective die roll.  If it is lower than 6, you pass, if not, you fail.  That number can be changed accordingly, with lower numbers for harder tasks.  For things like combat, both roll checks related to what they are doing, whomever has the lower roll wins.  Damage can be done based on Health and Armor checks, which is actually more difficult than just having damage rolls and HP, but then again, this is just a cursory look at The Window.  The site also has other optional rules that one can include, including having temporary slides down the Competency rungs for Health, Magic, Sanity, and the like.  This system is really basic, and ripe for house-ruling.

In fact, let's make a series of it!